Dreaming of power, Rahul Gandhi has taken steps that ultimately prove self-defeating for the Congress party. From the 2024 general elections to the 2025 assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi has been busy dividing Hindu society along caste lines, while the BJP, championing the cause of united Hindutva, has won with a landslide victory. One such move, fueled by his lust for power, has been to support the TVK party led by Vijay Thalapathy, helping it form a government. This move has not only been opposed by the parties allied with the Congress in the India Alliance, but has also sparked protests within the Congress party.
Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of supporting Thalapathy Vijay’s party, TVK, to form a government in Tamil Nadu sparked protests from a domestic unit of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. Disgruntled Tamil Nadu Congress leaders protested against Rahul Gandhi, saying that breaking the old alliance was wrong. They stated that breaking the decades-old alliance with the DMK and aligning with Vijay’s new party, TVK, which still has no clear ideological position, was a suicidal move. Senior Congress leaders (citing Mani Shankar Aiyar) termed it “political opportunism,” not an ideological alliance. Local Congress workers believed that aligning with Vijay’s party would lead to opposition from the DMK, potentially leading to losses in future elections (Lok Sabha and local body elections). Some leaders also stated that abandoning the DMK at the last moment, after years of allyship, was tantamount to betrayal. However, Rahul Gandhi justified his support for Thalapathy Vijay’s party, TVK, by stating that it was a political compulsion to keep the BJP out of power in Tamil Nadu. With Congress support, Vijay succeeded in becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
In Tamil Nadu’s neighboring state of Kerala, where the Congress-led UDF won a majority in the 2026 assembly elections, some Congress leaders are also opposing Rahul Gandhi’s move. They believe that the Congress party contests elections in Kerala against the Left parties. When Rahul Gandhi contested from Wayanad, the Congress party opposed the Congress by fielding its own candidate in Wayanad. Therefore, by supporting Vijay Thalapathy’s party TVK, along with other parties in Tamil Nadu, the Congress party will gain public trust in Kerala. This opposition from Congress leaders in Kerala soon ended.
Akhilesh Yadav, national president of the Samajwadi Party, a major constituent of the India Alliance, also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi for abandoning the DMK and supporting Vijay Thalapathy’s party TVK. Sharing a photo with Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav criticized Rahul Gandhi, saying, “We are not the ones who abandon us in difficult times.”
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai expressed his displeasure over Rahul Gandhi’s decision to support Thalapathy Vijay’s party TVK, saying the following.
Betrayal: The DMK termed the Congress’s move as a “betrayal.””Lack of foresight”: Saravanan described the Congress’s decision as a “lack of foresight” and said it was driven by “ego.” Reminded Rahul Gandhi of old friendship: Saravanan sarcastically said that when the BJP was calling Rahul Gandhi “Pappu”, it was DMK chief MK Stalin who had declared him the Prime Ministerial candidate. He said that Congress should not forget that the five seats it won in the 2026 elections were possible only because of its alliance with the DMK.
By supporting Vijay Thalapathy’s party, TVK, and forming a coalition government there, Rahul Gandhi can now at least say that, yes, his party, the Congress, and its alliance have succeeded in forming governments in two of the four state and one union territory assembly elections. However, there is a fear that the criticism of Rahul Gandhi’s actions, both from within the Congress Committee and from India Airlines, could cause significant damage to the Congress in the coming days.